What is your favorite element of your Small & Cool home?In the living area (which is really one long room with the kitchen at the back) there are 3 sets of French doors — one of the front of the house and two on the side. They were ugly non-functioning sliding doors when we bought the place. Eventually, we replaced them with 3 sets of antique doors given to us by a friend. They bring a lot of light into the small space, making it appear much, much bigger. (White painted wood floors help too.) Also, we turned our garage into a small studio (about 100 square feet — without this our house is 700 square feet). This helps in a big way because before we did it we didn't have any way to escape each other! There are no extra rooms in the house so it can get a bit claustrophobic when we're all home. The studio also allows me to run my business from home.

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What was one of the biggest challenges you faced in furnishing your Small Cool home?When you enter the front door, you are in the main living area and you have to walk through whatever seating arrangement we set up. It was a challenge to create an area that seats at least 4 (plus 2 badly-trained, couch-loving dogs) but that didn't block the way to the rest of the house and didn't make it feel too cluttered. I shop primarily at thrift shops/craigslist/yard sales so I was able to make mistakes without spending a fortune — it took many tries and many different pieces of furniture to get it right. We would live with an arrangement for a while and see how it worked. I passed on a lot of furniture to friends and family, but we like to do that anyway. Stuff is always being passed around to whomever needs it. Even though I now like the way it feels, I'm certain it will change again simply because I get bored and like to constantly mix it up.

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